memento mori: dogs at the end of their lives

warning: Don’t read this if your day is not going well. What follows is haunting and upsetting to look at.

Photographer Yun-Fei Tou photographed dogs about to be put down at shelters in Taiwan. The first portrait shows one who was euthanized only a couple minutes after the photo was taken. Tou writes that the series is meant to raise public awareness to the plight of these animals and the myriad like them. Their bodies show the neglect which they experienced. Their eyes, those eyes, they show such dignity and resignation.

Put down 2 minutes later

Put down 11-1/4 hours later

Put down 1.5 hours later

Put down 12-1/2 hours later

Put down 29 minutes later

Put down 13-1/4 hours later

Put down 40 minutes later

Put down 1-1/4 hours later

Put down 2 hours later

Put down 14.25 hours later

Put down 1 hour later

Perhaps some couldn’t have been saved, perhaps some were beyond hope but please, please, please: If you’re going to have a animal join your family, go to an animal shelter or rescue organization.